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Jan 2019
39m 44s

42 - The Lady with the Lamp

Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, FACP
About this episode

Florence Nightingale stands as one of the most important reformers of 19th century medicine -- a woman whose belief in the power of reason and statistical thinking would critically shape the both the fields of epidemiology and nursing. This episode discusses the fascinating story of Nightingale’s legacy -- how modern nursing was born out of the horrors of war, medical theories about poisonous air, the outsize influence of the average man, the first graph in history, and how a woman who died over a century ago presciently foresaw some of the most important scientific and social issues in medicine that are still with us today. Plus, a new #AdamAnswers about the doctor-nurse relationship.

 

Sources:

 

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  • McDonald L, Florence Nightingale, statistics and the Crimean War, J. R. Statist. Soc. A (2014)177, Part 3, pp. 569–586.
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  • Oyler L, “It’s Really Sickening How Much Florence Nightingale Hated Women,” Vice Broadly, retrieved online at https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/kb4jd3/its-really-sickening-how-much-florence-nightingale-hated-women
  • “Rank for Nurses,” The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Dec., 1919), pp. 241-24.
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